At its last meeting of the year on Dec. 14, the Van Buren Township Planning Commission held three public hearings, recommended four special land uses, approved three preliminary site plans, approved zoning ordinance text amendments, gave input on Menards’ plan that is going before the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), and elected officers.
The meeting ended up being just a few minutes short of four and a half hours in length.
Another item on the agenda was removed for more information and will be on an upcoming agenda. That is Scott Jones’ request on behalf of the Belleville Yacht Club to install two docks, each with a length not to exceed 120 feet, subject to approval by the State of Michigan. The township zoning ordinance limits the dock length to 40 feet.
Election of officers
Chairman Bryon Kelley, vice-chairman Jeff Jahr, and secretary Medina Atchinson were all unanimously reelected. Jahr was reelected primary liaison to the BZA and Brian Cullin was elected secondary liaison to the BZA, which had been filled by Atchinson, who agreed to turn it over to him.
Brookwood senior housing
After a public hearing on Nov. 9, the commission heard additional information from engineering consultant Paul Kammer on the proposed Brookwood senior housing development planned for a 44.4-acre site on the north side of Tyler Road, east of Morton Taylor Road.
At the Nov. 9 public hearing and during discussion on Dec. 14, people who lived in the subdivisions adjoining this property had questions and concerns that trees might be removed behind their properties and that traffic on Tyler Road would be increased dramatically.
After discussion, the commission recommended to the township board approval of special land use for the 132 single-story, ranch-type, attached condos, each with its own garage. The developer Chris Garner said the site would have a clubhouse, pickleball court, and walking trails.
Yvonne Fletcher, a resident of Hickory Woods, said her back door faces the treeline. She said it looks like it’s a done-deal, but she’s opposed to it. She said she will have to sell her home.
The commission also approved the preliminary site plan for the project.
Plans call for a pump station to pump sewage under Tyler Road to the sewer line at the south end of the project, since the north part of the site is dedicated wetlands and EGLE will not allow a pipe through the wetlands. The township board would have to approve the pump station because it must be turned over to the municipality. Questions on maintenance costs were discussed.
Because the development will have just one entrance/exit because of the wetlands, the developer has planned a wide boulevard from Tyler Road north with two lanes in each direction to allow for emergency vehicles.
Zoning Ordinance Text Amendments
After a public hearing at which nobody spoke, the commission recommended approval to the township board of proposed amendments on residential zoning regulations that had been discussed by the commission all year.
It modifies the requirement for at least 30% of all structures within a proposed residential plat or site condominium project to have the garage door oriented other than to the front of the lot and will allow modifications to restrictions on minimum separation distance between buildings in Planned Residential Developments (PRDs).
5m Van Buren LLC
After a public hearing during which nobody spoke, the commission recommended to the township board approval of special land use for 5M Van Buren LLC, which wants to construct a roof and floor truss manufacturing facility at a 21.3-acre site at 5925 Beck Rd. Township ordinances require special land use approval since there will be an outdoor storage area for building equipment and supplies, as well as a 68,228 square foot building. This is owned by the Mans Lumber site on Michigan Avenue in Canton Township, which adjoins this site, and customers will go to Mans to order anything at the new site.
The commission also granted preliminary site plan approval for the project, with the stipulation that a sidewalk be put in front of the facility even though Beck Road is gravel and it will be a “sidewalk to nowhere” at this time.
Zippy Auto Wash
Bryan Suliman of Van Buren Township spoke at the public hearing on the Zippy Auto Wash proposal for 11650 Belleville Rd. He said his family has been washing cars in Van Buren Township and the city of Belleville for 35 years and this new car wash will impact his family’s livelihood. He said the new car wash would be able to wash 100 to 125 cars an hour and Belleville Road is very busy and regularly backs up with traffic.
He voiced concern about the cars leaving the car wash through the shared driveway with the Urgent Care facility behind it. He said the Urgent Care is the only such facility in that part of the township and the drive to the medical facility could be blocked by users of the car wash.
Planning and Economic Development Director Dan Power said the owner of the both the car wash site and the Urgent Care is Night Hawk Properties and there is agreement for sharing of the drive for both businesses.
The owner of Zippy Auto Wash, Corey Weaver of Saline, said he and his wife Michelle have 10 other automatic car washes in the area. He said there will be two or three employees on site and two EV charging stations, among other amenities.
Menards’ additional lane
Tyler Edwards, real estate representative of Menards Inc., is seeking a dimensional variance to install an addition to the existing accessory drive-through canopy which is attached to the principal building. This would be within 15 feet of the side lot line and the ordinance requires a 25-foot side yard setback.
Edwards will be on the January BZA agenda and he asked the commission to comment on the request. He said now they are seeking to make it easier for people to order on-line and then drive in to pick up their orders. He said people can scan in with their cell phone, drive in and get the stuff, and then a guard at the date checks every outbound load. Commissioner Jahr said he understands that all Menards stores want to be consistent and they all will have three drives. He said he’s OK with modifying the greenbelt for this, but there’s a list of things he’ll have to convince the BZA on before they will approve a variance.
Edwards was the last person on the agenda just before 10 p.m. He said he came from Eau Claire, WI, and has to get back to the plane so they can get home before the snow that was coming to Wisconsin that night.
2023 meeting schedule
The commission also approved the 2023 Planning Commission Meeting Schedule that generally is the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at 5:30 p.m.
The commission also received the Augusta Township Master Plan that was distributed to the commission and seeks comments by Jan. 2.
The 2022 Planning Commission Annual Report was before them, but Director Power said he would update it to include everything through the end of the month and will bring it back to them for approval in January.